I felt like ripping my hair off when Ivren’s words came back to me.
We’re on the same side.
My chest rattled with a mirthless sound. Wewereon the same side. We’d never captured slaves before Gustief. We’d have working thralls, yes, but those were paid, and they came willingly.
“It’s the king,” I hissed. “We don’t want this. You’re coming after the wrong people!”
Her face was blank as she shook her head again.
I released her other arm, moving to sit on the leaf-riddled ground beside her instead. “We’re killing each other when there is a common enemy! We should stand together.”
She let out another tirade in her language as she used her hands to press up.
I tensed at the same time she did when more footsteps thudded through the forest, screams following, then cutting off as Darcke’s cold voice split the air.
“Where is she? Where the fuckis she?’”
We were on our feet at the same time, and the girl’s hands came up as if she planned to fight back. As if she could do anything against my sword, which was angled to her heart.
A burning sensation filled the back of my throat as I imagined what we looked like to someone passing by. A wild Viking heir, brought up to kill and conquer, and this short, beautiful girl only wishing to free her sister from the vicious king I honored.
I placed my hand over my mouth to fight the nausea.
I lowered the sword.
The girl’s brows drew closer.
I took a step back.
Something crossed her features, and it was my turn to furrowmy brows when she took a step toward me instead of running away. “I— Th-they”—she pointed to where the ruckus made the crowns of the trees shift. “For s-s-sister.”
I nodded. “I know. For your sister.”
Her hands waved frustratedly in the air. “N-no. Th-they, th-the k-ki?—”
A chill wrapped around my heart when blood spluttered from her mouth, coating my face. The girl’s head whipped down to the sword sticking out of her gut, and when it vanished, her hands pressed against the wound as she fell to her knees.
“No!” I screamed, falling with her. “No!”
She stared at me for a second longer before her quickly paling face went so white I knew there was no saving her. I held on to her shoulders, my sword forgotten, as her eyes went unseeing, her body crumpling to the ground even though I tried to keep her upright.
“Over here!” Geord screamed. “She’s over here!”
The woman’s blood coated my hands, my arms—everything—as my eyes lifted to the heir.
“What did you do?” I whispered.
“Saved your fucking life. We’re on thesame side, remember?” Geord smiled coldly as he wiped his sword on his trousers. “There are more of them coming, so hurry up and thank me. It’s honestly perfect you’re on your knees already?—”
I didn’t bother getting to my feet before I lunged. Wrapping my arms around his legs, I got Geord onto the ground with me. As I punched him in the jaw, I managed to kick his sword out of his hands.
“What the fuck are you doing?” His hand wrapped in my hair as he tried to pull me off him. “I told you more of them are coming!”
“You would”—I punched him again, savoring the satisfactory crack of a broken nose—“fight like a child.”
Geord shifted so he got on top of me, slamming my head into the ground so stars exploded before my eyes. “I saved you!”
“Fuck you!” I screamed.
